Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born in 1864 in Pennsylvania. Her father, a judge, died when Nellie was 4, leaving a financial mess behind him. At the age of 18, Nellie read a piece in the Pittsburgh Dispatch saying that women should keep to their proper ‘sphere’. She wrote a protest letter to the editor which so impressed him, he commissioned a second piece and hired her. She adopted the pseudonym ‘Nellie Bly’ (derived from a Stephen Foster song).
Nellie proved to be not just a good writer but a brave investigative reporter, and at one point was thrown out of Mexico by the government for exposing corruption. In 1887 she was recruited by Joseph Pulitzer for the New York World where she continued to push the limits of what was acceptable for women reporters by getting herself committed into a lunatic asylum to expose its horrors. And in November 1889, in a stunt inspired by Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days (1872), she set off from New York to travel around the world within 80 days, and in France took a detour to meet Verne. They met at Amiens railway station, wth a translator (and Mme. Verne) in attendance.
Verne was amazed at how young Nellie was and asked about her route. She said: ‘My line of travel is from New York to London, then Calais, Brindisi, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, Aden, Colombo, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco, New York’ (Nellie was travelling light – two small cases, a reliable timepiece and some good flannel underwear).
Verne asked why not visit Bombay, as Phineas Fogg had done: ‘Because I am more anxious to save time than a young widow’, I answered. ‘You may save a young widower before you return’, replied the gallant (smiling) Verne.
Then, in a passage somewhat startling for the modern reader, Nellie records that Verne’s wife ‘put up her pretty face’ for a kiss. ‘I stifled a strong inclination to kiss her on the lips, they were so sweet and red and show her how we do it in America. My mischievousness often plays havoc with my dignity, but for once I was able to restrain myself, and kissed her softly after her own fashion’ (see also 1882: Oscar Wilde gets a kiss from Walt Whitman). Says Nellie: ‘I had traveled many miles out of my way for the privilege of meeting M. and Mme. Verne, and I felt that if I had gone around the world for that pleasure, I should not have considered the price too high’.
What Happened Next
Nellie actually did the trip in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes, a world record, and when she arrived back in New York she had become probably the most famous woman in the world. She was greeted with fireworks and brass bands, but not with the financial bonus she reasonably expected from her employer. Nellie’s experiences on her voyage had appeared daily in the World and were followed eagerly by much of the (lower-case) world as well as America. Nellie resigned in indignation, but returned to the World in 1893, and became a leading instrument of reform, exposing sweatshop oppression of women and the struggles of unmarried mothers. She died in 1922, mourned by thousands whose lives she had helped change for the better.